Friday, AUG 07 2009
MANILA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Two Canadian tourists and a Filipino were killed when they were swept away in a flashflood along a river in the northern Philippine province of Tarlac Thursday afternoon amid strong rains, local media reported on Friday.
The bodies of the Canadians -- a man and a woman -- and the Filipino were found along the O'Donnel River Friday morning but have yet to be identified, Governor Victor Yap was quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an online report.
The victims were part of three groups of nine Canadians and three Koreans who went there for a trek to Mt. Pinatubo's crater, Yap said. Mt. Pinatubo is a volcano about 90 kilometers north of Manila on the Philippine island of Luzon. The volcano erupted in June 1991 after more than five centuries of slumber.
Investigators are trying to reach the survivors to get more details about the incident.
The O'Donnel River is fed by Mt. Pinatubo's watersheds and snakes down 30 kilometers before draining to another river in the lowland.
"We have no excuses for what has happened. We will do further work to ensure visitors' safety," Yap told the local daily.
Since 1993, when the Philippine Department of Tourism allowed treks to the volcano and transferred the program to the local government in 2001, no tourist had been reported to have met major accidents in the area, until now, according to the report.
The local authorities have suspended the treks indefinitely for safety reasons.
